In the Know
by Dr. Christian Klaue
I (really) enjoy reading and I like sharing good resources with others. To start off this year, I am revisiting the books I recommended last year and offering my favourite read for that category this past year. I will also offer a short summary of the book to refresh everyone’s memory.
For Leaders (2024–2025)
Here are this year’s standout reads for principals and administrators—books that spark growth, sharpen leadership skills, and encourage godly wisdom in school leadership.
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What Makes a Great Principal – George Couros
Couros has asked a number of educators to write on the following descriptors of an effective principal.
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Change – John Kotter
Kotter describes the process for trying to implement change at an organization.
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The Hard Hat – Jon Gordon
This is the biography of George Boiardi and the 21 traits of a good team player that he embodied.
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The Principal’s Guide to Conflict – Cory Schwanke
Schwanke describes the main types of conflict that take place in schools and then offers a three step process to resolve these conflicts in a productive manner.
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Leaders Eat Last – Simon Sinek
The five key lessons in this book refer to the value of a godly leader: as the culture, so the company; as the leader, so the culture; integrity matters; friends matter; and lead the people, not the numbers.
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The Pruning Principle – Steve Brown
The usual experience for teachers is to have more work added every year: add another initiative or join this committee. It is almost unheard of to remove a task from the teachers.
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What Can I Take Off Your Plate? – Jennifer Handley & Mike Donnelly
Handley and Donnelly address the important issue of teacher burnout.
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Advice From the Principal’s Desk – John Franklin
Franklin provides guidance for administrators just starting out on their journey.
⭐ Dr. Klaue’s Top Picks for Leaders
I really could not narrow it down. These are three great resources written for different audiences:
The Pruning Principle – for seasoned administrators who know they can reduce teachers’ workloads and just need some fine tuning on how to do so.
The Principal’s Guide to Conflict and Advice From the Principal’s Desk – specifically for new administrators who are trying to learn how to do their job well.
Teachers (2024-2025)
Practical, inspiring, and full of classroom-tested wisdom—these reads will encourage both your teaching practice and your heart.
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The Discussion Book - Stephen D. Brookfield, Stephen Preskill
This book provides the top ten discussion strategies for 11 different situations.
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Building Thinking Classrooms - Peter Liljedahl
This is specifically a resource to help teach math more effectively.
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New Teacher Mindset - Trevor Muir, John Spencer
This is a book about lessons that have been learned the hard way about starting a school year off right.
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Teaching Redemptively (3rd Edition) - Donovan L. Graham
Graham covers the foundations beliefs that undergird Christian education and then translates those beliefs into practices that guide Christian education.
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Rekindle Your Professional Fire - Mike Anderson
Anderson puts into words what we already know: teaching is challenging and it is easy to get burnt out.
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Learning by Choice - A.J. Juliani
Juliani advocates for students that they may have increased choice at school.
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Hanging In - Jeffrey Benson
Benson provides practical steps on dealing with 13 different types of challenging students.
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Who Owns the Learning? - Alan November
While this book is a bit dated (2012), November describes the importance of enhancing student learning through student agency.
⭐Dr. Klaue’s Top Pick for Teachers
My top pick for this category for the 2024/2025 school year is: New Teacher Mindset. It was almost a tie again for this category. I enjoy learning from Trevor Muir and John Spencer and this is probably their best book yet. It is written for new teachers to ensure that they start off on the right foot with every skill area covered.
Parents (2024-2025)
October T
What is the resource about?
-This book describes the process of becoming a disciple and then switching gears to making disciples.
November
What is this resource about?
-Smith reviews 30 virtues and reveals their role in The Lord of the Rings.
December
What is this resource about?
-Koukl has provided a way for parents to talk to their children about any and every topic.
January
What is this resource about?
-Lennox looks at the relationship between Christianity and work.
February
What is this resource about?
-As the subtitle says, this book is all about helping people (parents) move past cancel culture to being able to have meaningful conversations (with their children).
March
What is this resource about?
-Hansen describes the six character traits that make up a healthy masculinity:
Embrace the real
Protect the vulnerable
Be ambitious about the right things
Make women and children feel safe, not threatened.
Choose today whom you plan on becoming tomorrow
Take responsibility for your own spiritual life.
April
What is this resource about?
-Coxall describes how we should go about teaching the Bible to (our) children.
May
What is this resource about?
-Brooks deals with the issue of aging in our society today.
I can’t pick a top book for this category for this year.These are excellent reads that will speak to a variety of parents.
Autobiographies/Biographies (2024-2025)
October
Who is the resource about?
-Lennox wrote this biography of Abraham to deepen our understanding of the real individual.
November
Who is the resource about?
-How would you respond if your spouse was murdered and the murderers then invited you to live with them in an isolated village?
December
Who is the resource about?
-This is a biography of Leonard Ravenhill, one of the foremost experts on revival.
January
The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers
Who is the resource about?
-This is the first authorized biography of Mr. Rogers and describes how his childhood led to his life's-work as a pastor to America’s children.
February
Who is this resource about?
-This is the biography of Peter Fleming, one of the five missionaries martyred in Ecuador in 1956 by the Auca (Waorani).
March
Who is this resource about?
-This is a collection of stories by missionaries about how God provided for them.
April
Who is this resource about?
-This is a biography of Takahashi Nagai, a professor of radiology in Nagasaki who survived the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
May
Who is this resource about?
-This is an autobiography of Sokreaksa Himm, a Cambodian whose large family was wiped out by the Khmer Rouge.
My top pick for this category for the 2024/2025 school year is: A Song of Nagasaki because of the extra-ordinary circumstances it describes: a survivor of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki who ends up leading many other Japanese to Christ because of how he responded to this event.